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Waterfox Browser No Longer Connecting

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  • Last reply by James

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Hello! My computer is Win 7 (my system info; the same with greater detail). I've been relying on Waterfox (mainly to download videos; it's not the browser I use regularly) for years, and it has never given a problem, far as web access. I have not updated the browser, main reason being my downloading add-on (which happens to be the popular "Video DownloadHelper") behaves in a less preferred way in my other browsers. (I fear an update would put the kibosh on the better way that program functions in Waterfox.)

Suddenly Waterfox has become moody (I don't know if BB code is going to work here, but the following image is a scrrenshot of "Hmm. We're having trouble finding that site." If not showing below, the direct link.):

[URL=https://imgbox.com/hXEimf6M][IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/62/ca/hXEimf6M_t.jpg/IMG/URL


I am hoping the ones reading may have suggestions for me to get my Waterfox back.


I did install a VPN recently, but I don't think that's an issue. Another point of consideration: Waterfox can access the internet in Safe Mode.


I consulted this handy-dandy page before bothering you:


7 Fixes to Try When Waterfox Is Not Loading Webpages on Windows


1) Weak internet connection. (Nope.) 2) Corruption in Waterfox installation files. (This possibility seems remote. After all, it was working well until now. ) 3) Malicious extensions (I have tried disabling all extensions, and there aren't that many.) 4) Webpages will also fail to load if there's something wrong with the browser's code. (This "code," whatever that is. was working fine for all this time. A quick look-see led to this meaning of "code": "..Code is made from C++ and C. Also javascript, pyhton, ruby, and many other languages." That seems to be a long shot.)


Their recommendations (leaving out the ones that are not relevant):


2) Update Waterfox. (I'm trying to avoid that. Of course, this might be the solution; however, It's not as though my version is that old and would have stopped working. Of course... who knows.)

4) Check Your DNS (Sounds like a lot of trouble; I don't think this will make a difference, as other browsers present no problem, and WF works in Safe Mode.)

5) Clear Waterfox Cache and Cookies (I did that.)

6)  Remove Unwanted Extensions  (I did that, by disabling the toggles, as suggested.)

7) Reset Waterfox.

That might be the last resort, and I have the feeling a reset is not going to do the trick. Doing this will get rid of the video downloading extension I'm trying to preserve, and instead I'm hoping one or more experts might come up with another suggestion that will work.


As an additional point, under Waterfox's "Options" > "Network Settings" > "Settings," where the default choice under "Configure Proxy Access to the Internet" is "Use system proxy settings," I fooled around by checking the first two, "No proxy" and "Auto-detect proxy settings for this network," and neither selection did anything. I could not try the remaining choice, "Manual proxy configuration," because I have no idea what figures or numbers to place for that one. If the BB code for the screenshot below does not show, here is the direct image; I'm also using the "attachment" option below.

[URL=https://imgbox.com/AqBgHdib][IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/2c/b2/AqBgHdib_t.jpg/IMG/URL

It's really odd Waterfox suddenly stopped working; it was so reliable.


Thank you. I would be very grateful for your help.



.

Hello! My computer is Win 7 (my [https://imgbox.com/wlMg47SY system info]; the same with [http://speccy.piriform.com/results/LyDtqTRiM6xNfKlbbBoMufK greater detail]). I've been relying on Waterfox (mainly to download videos; it's not the browser I use regularly) for years, and it has never given a problem, far as web access. I have not updated the browser, main reason being my downloading add-on (which happens to be the popular "Video DownloadHelper") behaves in a less preferred way in my other browsers. (I fear an update would put the kibosh on the better way that program functions in Waterfox.) Suddenly Waterfox has become moody (I don't know if BB code is going to work here, but the following image is a scrrenshot of ''"Hmm. We're having trouble finding that site."'' If not showing below, the [[direct link]].): [URL=https://imgbox.com/hXEimf6M][IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/62/ca/hXEimf6M_t.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I am hoping the ones reading may have suggestions for me to get my Waterfox back. I did install a VPN recently, but I don't think that's an issue. Another point of consideration: Waterfox can access the internet in Safe Mode. I consulted this [https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-waterfox-not-loading-webpages/ handy-dandy page] before bothering you: '''7 Fixes to Try When Waterfox Is Not Loading Webpages on Windows''' 1) ''Weak internet connection. ''(Nope.) 2) ''Corruption in Waterfox installation files.'' (This possibility seems remote. After all, it was working well until now. ) 3) ''Malicious extensions'' (I have tried disabling all extensions, and there aren't that many.) 4) ''Webpages will also fail to load if there's something wrong with the browser's code. ''(This "code," whatever that is. was working fine for all this time. A quick look-see led to this meaning of "code": "..Code is made from C++ and C. Also javascript, pyhton, ruby, and many other languages." That seems to be a long shot.) Their recommendations (leaving out the ones that are not relevant): 2) '''Update Waterfox'''. (I'm trying to avoid that. Of course, this might be the solution; however, It's not as though my version is that old and would have stopped working. Of course... who knows.) 4) '''Check Your DNS '''(Sounds like a lot of trouble; I don't think this will make a difference, as other browsers present no problem, '''and''' WF works in Safe Mode.) 5) '''Clear Waterfox Cache and Cookies''' (I did that.) 6) '''Remove Unwanted Extensions''' (I did that, by disabling the toggles, as suggested.) 7) '''Reset Waterfox'''. That might be the last resort, and I have the feeling a reset is not going to do the trick. Doing this will get rid of the video downloading extension I'm trying to preserve, and instead I'm hoping one or more experts might come up with another suggestion that will work. As an additional point, under Waterfox's "Options" > "Network Settings" > "Settings," where the default choice under "Configure Proxy Access to the Internet" is "Use system proxy settings," I fooled around by checking the first two, "No proxy" and "Auto-detect proxy settings for this network," and neither selection did anything. I could not try the remaining choice, "Manual proxy configuration," because I have no idea what figures or numbers to place for that one. If the BB code for the screenshot below does not show, here is the [https://imgbox.com/AqBgHdib direct image]; I'm also using the "attachment" option below. [URL=https://imgbox.com/AqBgHdib][IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/2c/b2/AqBgHdib_t.jpg[/IMG][/URL] It's really odd Waterfox suddenly stopped working; it was so reliable. Thank you. I would be very grateful for your help. .
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

Thank you for your responses, Paul, as well as the very helpful Jonzn4SUSE. Yes, I sure did miss the point... I did not figure the come-one-come-all Reddit site would be an official support page for a software developer. In addition, my understanding was that Waterfox was a kind of a substitute for the Firefox model, leading to my erroneous conclusion that Mozilla was behind Waterfox. I have now learned Mozilla and Waterfox are two different things.

I appreciate the provided guidance.

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Mark this as resolved and post the issue here. ---> https://www.reddit.com/r/waterfox/?rdt=44282

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Dear jonzn4SUSE; I much appreciated your response, and the link you pointed to made for very interesting reading. That Reddit page lists a host of problems others have been experiencing with Waterfox, which was an eye-opener.

I took your advice and posted my problem. There's no guarantee of a resolution (in fact, going through some of the posts gave me the feeling a lot of Reddit respondents are not support-oriented).

Here, we are at "support.mozilla.org," which implies a better chance of participants knowing what's wrong, so I'm not going to "Mark this as resolved," as you suggested... when it's far from resolved. There is a chance someone here might know what to try.

Thanks for the information you offered.

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Hi

I suggest that you refer your question to the Waterfox support team. This is the support forum for Firefox.

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We know it's not resolved, but this is not the place. This is Mozilla Firefox which is why the link in your comment refers to Firefox and not Waterfox. Floorp which is from a Japanese developer has his own place on github for reporting issues. The reddit link I posted is where the developer of Waterfox provides support. Looks like you missed that point. 😓

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Chosen Solution

Thank you for your responses, Paul, as well as the very helpful Jonzn4SUSE. Yes, I sure did miss the point... I did not figure the come-one-come-all Reddit site would be an official support page for a software developer. In addition, my understanding was that Waterfox was a kind of a substitute for the Firefox model, leading to my erroneous conclusion that Mozilla was behind Waterfox. I have now learned Mozilla and Waterfox are two different things.

I appreciate the provided guidance.

Helpful?

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WaterFox is a third-party build of Firefox. You can download Firefox source and build Firefox yourself as some Linux users do this. The only third-party project of Firefox that I know that has been allowed to use the Firefox name and logo is the long running portable Firefox for Windows as it uses the official builds with a custom launcher that keeps things self contained even run off a usb flash drive.

In the early days WaterFox got its start in some popularity due to having Win64 versions of Firefox for Windows as Mozilla did not consider the Win64 builds of Firefox to be stable until Firefox 42.0 and then was officially made available as download alongside the 32-bit version for Windows as of Firefox 43.0.

Modified by James

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